1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of telecommunication systems and, more particularly, to a telecommunication system with an automatic call distributor which predictively outdials telephonic calls to external telephonic units of an external telephonic network.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 C.F.R. Section 1.97-1.99
Telecommunication systems employing an automatic call distributor having a multiport switch controlled by a central control processing unit in conjunction with a main memory for selectively connecting telephonic inbound calls received from external telephonic units of an external telephonic switching network are well known. Examples of such call distributor systems are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,903 of Jones et al. entitled "Multichannel Telephonic Switching Network With Different Signaling Formats and Connect/PBX Treatment Selectable For Each Channel", issued Dec. 7, 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,611 of Jones et al. entitled "Pulse Modulated Self-Clocking and Self-Synchronizing Data Transmission and Method for a Telephonic Communication Switching System", issued Aug. 18, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,004 of Lenihan et al. entitled "Tone and Announcement Message Code Generator for a Telephonic Switching System and Method", issued Jun. 30, 1992 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,047 of Pitroda et al. entitled "Integrated Voice and Data Telecommunications Switching System", issued Dec. 2, 1986.
It is also known in such telecommunication systems to have a host data base computer coupled with the automatic call distributor. The host data base computer contains information relating to customers at the external telephonic unit. The automatic call distributor interacts with the host data base computer to provide agents stationed at internal telephonic units of the call distributor information relating to a particular customer communicating with the servicing agent. In such telecommunication systems it is known to have an automatic call distributor which connects incoming calls from external telephonic units to one group of internal units and initiates outbound calls from the call distributor which are answered by external units and are connected to another selected group internal telephonic units. In order to perform outdial or outbound calls in known telecommunication systems another data base computer or a tandem computer interfacing with the automatic call distributor and host computer is employed.
In these known systems a predictive outdial call pacing process executes on the tandem data base computer and provides outdial calling instructions to the automatic call distributor. Predictive outdialing attempts to automatically connect outdialed calls to customers at such a paced rate that the telecommunication system will keep a group of agents at near full occupancy with answered calls. The predictive outdial call pacing is adjusted so that the delay of outdialed calls placed in a queue is kept to a minimum.
Disadvantageously, however, in known telecommunication systems, agents stationed at internal telephonic units of the call distributor are limited to servicing either only inbound calls or outbound calls. Known call distributor do not permit an individual agent to receive and service both inbound calls made from external units and outbound calls initiated from the call distributor. This significantly reduces the call handling efficiency of the agents. During slow periods of inbound call traffic the agents assigned to service only inbound calls frequently stay idle for extended periods of time. Since certain pools of agents are restricted to handling only inbound calls, telephonic calls outdialed by the call distributor are not connected to designated inbound calling agents. Unfortunately, pools of inbound calling agents must wait for an increase in inbound calls in order to perform their exclusive job duties of servicing only received inbound calls. Accordingly, since pools of agents must wait in an idle state for extended periods of time, agent call servicing resources are poorly utilized in such known systems.
Furthermore, during periods in which a high number of inbound calls are received at the call distributor, agents restricted to handling only outbound or outdialed calls are not able to assist in servicing the high volume of received inbound calls. During peak periods of high inbound calling traffic, customers calling from external telephonic units frequently experience long call holding delays. Since, the number of agent pools capable of servicing inbound calls is limited, an increase in the number of inbound calls results in a higher average delay in queue for an inbound call. Moreover, since pools of outbound agents are often available at the call distributor during high inbound calling periods, but are restricted from receiving inbound calls, the call servicing resources of the automatic call distributor are poorly and inefficiently utilized.